


A Glimpse in the Darkness - Part I: Before the Shadow

by WobblyJellyfish



Series: A Glimpse in the Darkness [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Aliens, Chapter-specific trigger warnings at the start of each chapter, Established Queer Relationship, Mental Health Issues, Multiple Storylines, Mystery, Non-binary character, Political Unrest, Queer Characters, Science Fiction, Tags and rating will be updated accordingly as the story progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-26 15:48:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18720166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WobblyJellyfish/pseuds/WobblyJellyfish
Summary: Two friends stranded on an unknown world with a wanted criminal.A small rescue crew investigating distress calls that shouldn't exist.An alien civilisation falling into hysteria.All while the darkness steadily creeps forward...





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Hi friends! This is my first time posting original work, but I've been really eager to share this, so here we are! 
> 
> As in the description, I've tried to tag as best as possible, but I will add more tags as appropriate should more things present themselves further down the line.
> 
>  
> 
> (small bloodTW for chapter 1)

The surface was not what Dakota had been expecting. From above, the deep golden colour had suggested a sprawling desert of some kind, or perhaps an ocean. She had not expected rocks, jagged and tall, sprouted from the gravelled ground like oaks. She was caught so off guard that Nobu had needed to switch the controls to himself and take over, deftly weaving through the spires with the accuracy that had given _Swift_ its name.

 

Friday had not been so lucky. He’d seemingly been surprised just as much as Dakota, the wing of his ship having clipped a claw-like rock on the edge of a cliff in a manoeuvre to shake them off and immediately started to corkscrew down; thick, oily smoke streaming behind him as he continued to uncontrollably strike the rocks. Nobu had eased downward to follow, knowing that this was their chance to finally close the distance and get Friday in cuffs.

 

Ten straight hours they’d been chasing him. While they weren’t surprised that he’d tried to run for as long as possible, they were both confused and impressed by the fact that he’d never _stopped_. No breaks, no detours to try and outwit them (they’d been too close on his tail for that to have worked anyway). Friday had simply fled, never slowing for anything, zipping through at least three different systems. He probably enjoyed the chase, Dakota thought. Both she and Nobu had lost count of how many systems and galaxies and planets they’d sped through after four hours, and, as exhaustion had started to take hold, had begun to take turns as the main pilot. They’d flicked control over from one side of the cockpit to the other with almost flawless fluidity, not even needing to notify each other of the change. Right from when they’d first been partnered seven years ago they had worked well together, but now they almost shared a consciousness.

 

So, naturally, both of them had decided, without discussion, that going after Friday on their own was a good idea. And now they were in this mess.

 

They’d landed in what looked like a quarry, the staggered bowl of rocks the colour of mustard and smelling vaguely of vanilla towering around them. Friday’s ship was a smoking wreck near the road leading into the quarry, and, since there was no sign of him, Dakota assumed he was still inside. As she and Nobu climbed out of _Swift_ , she grabbed the first aid kit.

 

Just because they were here to arrest him didn’t mean they wouldn’t help.

 

They headed to the wreckage, and she noticed Nobu smirking at her. “What?” she asked, making a face.

 

Nobu’s smirk widened. “Women drivers, don’t you know how to fly a ship?” he joked, and stuck his tongue out at her. Dakota huffed a laugh and lightly punched Nobu’s arm, her own smirk forming when he started overdramatically rubbing his arm. Anyone else, and she would have punched much harder. And in the stomach.

 

When they reached the ship, they found Friday indeed still inside, unconscious and with blood streaming from a wound trenched in his forehead. Dakota could see the pistol still in its holster on his hip, and, even if he was out cold for now, knew they had to be careful when getting him out. If he were to wake up, both she and Nobu would be in a lot of trouble. As if landing on an unknown planet without anyone knowing where they were wasn’t already bad enough. Now that had to try and figure out where they were without getting themselves killed. No doubt if that happened Kayode would bring them both back to life just to kill them again himself for being irresponsible.

 

Setting the first aid kit on the ground next to her, Dakota nodded to Nobu, before gritting her teeth and punching her hand through the window of the door. It was cheap Glacier Glass, but the bite of the shards didn’t hurt any less as she felt around for a handle to get the door open. The whole ship looked cheap, and the sparks flying in the cockpit suggested security shouldn’t be a problem. That, and the possibility of the ship going up in flames had jumped considerably.

 

Just as she felt Nobu start to approach to help, she flipped a switch and the door flew open, taking Dakota along with it. “Go get him,” she said, and hissed as she felt the glass drag through her arm. Nobu wavered for a second, then took out his switchblade to cut through Friday’s seatbelt, before hooking his arms under Friday’s armpits and slowly dragging him out of the ship.

 

Dakota delicately managed to weave her arm out as Nobu laid Friday down on the sandy gravel, still unconscious. “You okay?” Nobu asked, glancing at the blood dampening on the tears in her jacket. Dakota simply nodded and winced slightly as she gripped her arm. She then bent down and swiped Friday’s gun.

 

“Let’s get handsome into the ship before he wakes up,” she said. Nobu nodded once, and began to drag Friday towards the ship.

 

“Handsome, huh?” he said, his mischievous smirk returning. “I didn’t think he was your type, Jack.”

 

“Shut up, _Fujioka_.” Nobu laughed, and Dakota couldn’t help but chuckle with him. If they had their communicators on, Kayode would probably be tiredly reprimanding them, that they shouldn’t be acting so casually, that they had to stay focused and on guard, until their captor was safely detained. But he was back at Nemo Santori, in a completely different system, and their communicators had been fried during the chase. Besides, it wasn’t like either of them ever stringently followed Kayode’s orders. Watching him boil while he told them off like children was half the fun of the job.

 

They soon reached _Swift_ , and Nobu scooped Friday up and laid him on his own bunk, and Dakota pulled herself up to sit on hers opposite. “You want me to check over sleeping beauty first?” Nobu asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

 

Dakota snorted and half-heartedly swung her leg at him. “Yeah, I’ll live,” she said. “We need to make sure he’s alive when we get him back to base. I mean, half the authorities out for his arrest want him alive, so I guess we should do what they want, right?”

 

“Probably for the best,” Nobu said, before reaching down for the first aid kit and began checking Friday over and treating his visible injuries.

 

In the meantime, Dakota leant back against the wall and began delicately removing shards from her arm, trying not to make too much noise so she wouldn’t distract Nobu. While it was still bleeding, her arm wasn’t too badly injured, and nothing had pierced particularly deep, so at worst she probably just needed to disinfect the cuts and be patched up. But her more pressing thought, as she watched Nobu handcuff Friday to the bunk, was that Friday had _finally_ been caught. He’d been at large for five years, and now they had him, defenceless, in their custody.

 

They would be heroes. They’d be recognised and hailed for what they’d done. People would actually _see_ them now. People would respect them, for this act of bravery and righteousness. Maybe people would finally respect her and Nobu for who they were, too. That was all they’d ever really wanted anyway.

 

Dakota looked to the cockpit and out of the windscreen at the quarry. Well, if they were going to be heroes, first they needed to get back home from wherever ‘here’ was. She sighed. No idea where they were, and no way of calling for help. It was going to be a long ride.


	2. Two

“How come there’s so much paperwork when no one’s gonna read it?” Joy asked, sitting on one of the food supply crates and swinging her feet.

 

“It’s not _paperwork_ ,” David drawled. “For the last time, it’s a logging system for the supplies, so we can ration accordingly. We don’t know how long we’re going to be here or whether anything that grows here is edible.”

 

“And we need to keep track of reserves should there be any _accidents_ ,” Gem chimed in as they stuck their head out from the ship and scowled playfully at David.

 

He blushed immediately. “That avalanche on Demeter wasn’t my fault and you know it!” he said, waving his clipboard at Gem and turning away from them as Joy giggled.

 

“Still looks like paperwork to me,” Joy said. She pushed off the crate and headed towards the ship. “While you do that, I’m gonna see if anyone needs me inside.” David grumbled, but didn’t do anything to stop her as she skipped up the ramp and into the ship.

 

Inside, Lucy and Celeste were going over the medical supplies, with Lucy explaining certain medicines to her new apprentice. Joy chuckled a little, since Celeste stood at least a head taller and was crouched slightly and huddled close as Lucy excitedly lectured her. Gem was hovering nearby Lucy, as usual, lifting more supply crates onto the carriers to take outside for David to catalogue, periodically blowing loose strands of hair out of their face. Joy couldn’t see Richard or Martha, and assumed they were both still in the cockpit, relaying their safe landing back to Gemini Omega. Since nobody visibly needed her help, Joy instead approached one of the ship’s main screens, registering her presence by placing her hand flat on the glass. Instantly, there was a sharp _ping!_ and the avatar she’d become accustomed to over the last days’ travel appeared on the screen.

 

“Greetings, Linguistic Officer de Maeijer!” Pepper said cheerily, complete with her signature head tilt and wide, toothy grin. “Is the settling on Jasper going smoothly?”

 

 _de Maeijer_. While Joy was used to some of the AI’s mannerisms, her referring to everyone by position and last name still made her a little uncomfortable. Even if their surnames were plastered in block capitals on all of their jackets. She wasn’t even an _officer_ ; this was both her and Celeste’s first mission of any description, and Joy guessed that Pepper merely made up for the lack of data by just giving them positions.

 

“It’s going well!” Joy said. “We’ve got most of the supply crates outside and we’re going to set up camp soon! The weather is good at the moment, so hopefully we’ll be finished before the weather turns.”

 

“Agreed,” Pepper said. “Nightfall will occur in two hours and forty-seven minutes, and there are plenty of fully charged solar lamps on board.” Pepper’s face changed, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. “I have not picked up any more signals since we departed Gemini Omega. I am also having difficulty placing the source of the original transmission to a more specific location. My apologies.”

 

Joy hummed a little. “That’s worrying. But you don’t need to apologise Pepper. Once we’re all set up we can start investigating and hopefully we’ll be able to find something…”

 

Pepper tilted her head again, the waves of her copper hair falling over her shoulder as her eyes softened. “Is everything alright?” she asked softly.

 

“Yeah! It’s just my first time out, y’know? I’m nervous.” Suddenly they were interrupted by a short, sharp whistle. Joy turned around to see Gem, Lucy and Celeste all crowded around the blue medical crates, and Gem gestured to them. Joy smiled slightly. “I’m…gonna go help them with those,” she said to Pepper.

 

“Of course,” Pepper said. “I will let you know if I uncover any more information.” She smiled widely, before her screen zipped back to the Gemini Omega logo. Joy sighed, before sucking in a breath and skipping over to the others and gripping the first medical crate opposite Celeste, ready to finish unpacking and finally start the search.

 

 ***

 

“Understood. We look forward to hearing from you soon.” As Melissa’s voice fizzled out, Richard fell back in his seat of the cockpit with an overdramatic sigh, while Martha leaned the opposite way and gently plonked her head on the controls. Two days. Two days they’d been in this miserable tiny cockpit, only leaving for bathroom breaks, and now they were finally here. They’d barely slept either (despite Pepper’s advice and much to her annoyance), preferring to get to Jasper as soon as possible, considering they were following distress calls.

 

Outside, the forest sprawled for as far as they could see. The canopies up above were incredibly wide, so apart from the hole they’d made upon entry, there had been no need to destroy any of the trees, since they were so spread out. Their ship wasn’t huge, big enough only to carry the seven of them and their cargo and equipment. Whilst the captain and vice-captain hadn’t really slept at all, the rest of the crew had needed to sleep amongst the crates. Distantly, David was once again declaring how his task wasn’t paperwork, whilst Joy and Gem laughed as they and Lucy and Celeste continued to offload their equipment and supplies.

 

“We should go out there and help them,” Martha said, a slight strain in her voice. “And make sure Joy doesn’t tease Dave so much he explodes.”

 

Richard huffed a laugh. “Yeah, we probably should,” he said. He sat up and stretched his arms above his head. “Sooner we finish setting up the sooner we can sleep, right?” On cue, he yawned.

 

Martha followed suit and lifted her head. “Of course you’d focus on going to sleep instead of the mission.” She smirked as Richard slapped a hand to his chest and dropped his jaw in a show of pretending to be offended. “And the sooner we can find out what the hell is going on here.” Richard nodded, and they both fell into silence. They could still hear the muffled bickering of their crewmates outside, but now that they were here, the weight of the mission seemed to hit them.

 

They were the first humans to step foot on Jasper in centuries. It had been centuries since any species had even gone _near_ Jasper’s solar system. Many civilisations, humanity included, had adopted the belief that this particular region of space was cursed, and wished to stay as far away from it as possible. Even the Shillits, who notoriously spent their free time claiming as many worlds as possible, seemed to have avoided Jasper’s _galaxy_ altogether. Jasper wasn’t even the planet’s official name, just the English translation used for the English-speaking civilisations, like that onboard Gemini Omega.

 

The original settlers had been from the Chinese breakaway from Earth in the Twenty-Third Century, after humanity left its home behind. They had named the planet Bìyù, and, since the planet was completely uninhabited when they arrived, meticulously terraformed until it was suitable for human life. One of humanity’s first and most successful colonies.

 

And then one day it was gone. The settlers, the cities, everything had just disappeared. Investigations found nothing. The Chinese breakaway, who had become the Chinese Galactic Republic by then, were quick to accuse foul play, but had nobody to point the finger at. Since then humanity had attempted to settle on Jasper twice more, several hundred years between them, but the same story happened every time. Even the research base after them ultimately suffered the same fate. Nobody knew how or why, but the citizens of Jasper kept vanishing without a trace.

 

So when the first transmission reached Gemini Omega, everyone was falling over themselves about what to do. It had only been ten seconds long, and almost the entire transmission had been garbled and unintelligible, but the distinctly human voice had sent the everyone in hysteria. It was _impossible_ that someone was still on Jasper; nobody had been for at least a thousand years. And no matter how hard everyone had tried, nobody could accurately trace the signal, and even now nobody knew who had made the transmission in the first place. The only plausible explanation that anyone could come up with was that someone had become stranded on Jasper, and, by the sounds of it, their equipment had experienced significant damage.

 

“Do you really think someone’s stuck out here?” Richard asked, staring out at the trees.

 

“Who knows?” Martha said. “But even if there isn’t anyone here, maybe we’ll be the ones to finally get some answers about this crazy planet.”

 

Outside, David had apparently finally snapped, screaming about how “he wasn’t attracted to paperwork because that’s fucking stupid” while Gem tried to calm him down as the others laughed. Martha giggled and stood up, wobbling on her stiff legs. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go before a playground spat breaks out.”

 

Richard nodded, and the pair of them stepped out of the cockpit, laughing as they calmed a flustered David and continued to set up camp, and their home for the foreseeable future.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and any and all comments are deeply cherished. As this is the first major piece of writing I've done i nearly two years, this story really means a lot to me, and I'd love to hear your thoughts and any questions and stuff you may have! <3


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